Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG’s
main shareholder has started arbitration proceedings at the
Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce to determine if it
paid a market price for the stake it acquired from Electricite
de France SA.

The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg filed for arbitration amid
doubts that the 4.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion) paid for the 45
percent stake in EnBW was justified, Frank Kupferschmidt, a
spokesman for Baden-Wuerttemberg’s finance ministry, said by
telephone today. Carole Trivi, a spokeswoman for EDF in Paris,
declined to comment.

EDF, Europe’s biggest power generator, sold the stake in
the utility on Dec. 6, 2010. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg
offered 41.50 euros a share, representing a 19 percent premium
on the share price at the time. Failure to pay a market-value
for the shares would constitute a breach of European state-aid
rules, the ministry said in a statement today.